PHOENIX -- Arizona and San Diego enter the final series of the regular season in search of smaller victories, unfortunately about all that is left to accomplish in a down year for each.Diamondbacks second baseman Jean Segura, whose credentials as a leadoff man were questioned following his offseason acquisition, enters the three-game series with a career-high 201 hits.Segura has a commanding nine-hit lead over Colorados DJ LeMahieu and the Dodgers Corey Seager in an attempt to lead the league in that category, and he is five hits from tying Luis Gonzalezs franchise record of 206 hits set in 1999.The only way the D-backs (66-93) can avoid a disappointing last-place finish in the NL West is with a sweep. The Padres (68-91) have won nine of the first 16 meetings while outscoring the D-backs, 92-69.San Diego rookie right fielder Hunter Renfroe looks to continue his final-week binge in his first appearance at Chase Field, one of the most hitter-friendly parks in baseball.Renfroe, who was promoted when the minor league season ended in the third week of September, has home runs in three of his last four starts, and his work in the first two games of the recently completed Los Angeles series was particularly memorable.Renfroe had two homers and seven RBI in a 7-1 victory over the Dodgers on Tuesday, book-ending his night with a three-run homer in the first inning and a grand slam in the eighth.The most impressive line in that nights box scores:Two-out RBI: Renfroe 7.He had four RBI the next night on a two-run single in the first inning and a two-run homer in the third in the Padres 7-6 victory. He had a single in the final game of the series and is hitting .360.I love Hunter Renfroes even-keel demeanor, said Padres manager Andy Green, who was Arizonas third base coach in 2015.Arizona rookie right-hander Braden Shipley, 4-5 with a 5.26 ERA, will make his 11th major league start Friday, his third against the Padres this season and his first against them at Chase Field. He has given up nine runs in 9 2/3 innings in the previous two starts.San Diego is expected to start right-hander Edwin Jackson, whose 14-year, 11-team trek through the majors includes a brief stop with the Diamondbacks. He threw a 149-pitch no-hitter for Arizona at Tampa Bay on June 2, 2010.Jackson, 5-6 with a 5.77 ERA, will be remembered as part of the package the D-backs received in a three-team trade in the winter of 2009 that sent eventual Cy Young winner Max Scherzer to the Tigers. The D-backs also landed Ian Kennedy from the Yankees, who received Curtis Granderson as their major piece.Jackson beat San Francisco in his last outing, and seven of his 12 starts for the Padres have been quality starts.Segura has been a bright light in his first season with the Diamondbacks, out-shining bigger-name offseason acquisitions Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller, neither of whom will take a turn in the final series.With three singles in a rain-shortened 3-0 victory at Washington on Wednesday, Segura reached 200 hits and became the 14th player in major league history to have 200 hits, 20 homers and 30 stolen bases in the regular season.Others on that list include Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Larry Walker and Vladimir Guerrero. Jacoby Ellsbury was the most recent addition, when he had 212 hits, 29 homers and 51 stolen bases with Boston in 2011.Segura singled in three plate appearances Thursday before leaving in the seventh inning with cramping in his rib cage.Were hoping its OK so he can continue his quest for Gonzos record, Arizona manager Chip Hale told reporters. LeSean McCoy Jersey . 1, meaning problems for the doping controls at both major international sports events next year. The World Anti-Doping Agency provisionally suspended the Moscow Antidoping Center on Sunday, saying its operations must improve or a six-month ban on the facilitys accreditation will be imposed. Morris Claiborne Jersey . Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series. http://www.prochiefsauthentic.com/Youth-Frank-Clark-Elite-Jersey/ . Uniteds eighth defeat of a wretched campaign means Liverpool, which currently occupies the fourth and final Champions League place, could go nine points clear of its fierce rival by beating West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Charlie Adam scored both of Stokes goals at Britannia Stadium either side of Robin van Persies equalizer, with a miserable day for seventh-place United capped by first-half injuries to centre halves Jonny Evans and Phil Jones that forced them off. Reggie Ragland Jersey . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. Dustin Colquitt Jersey .2 billion agreement with Rogers Communications for the leagues broadcast and multimedia rights. John Gleeson, the former Australia spinner, has died at the age of 78 in Tamworth, New South Wales.Gleeson was Australias 242nd Test cricketer and played 29 matches between 1967 and 1972. He took 93 wickets at an average of 36 with three five-wicket hauls. Gleeson also claimed 430 first-class wickets in a 116-match career between 1966 and 1975, predominantly for New South Wales.Hes sadly passed away in the Tamworth hospital, aged 78, the former Australia captain Ian Chappell relayed to viewers during Channel Nines coverage of a Matador Cup game.Gleeson was one of the early unorthodox spinners, delivering with an unusual action like Australias Jack Iverson before him and Sri Lankas Ajantha Mendis decades later. The folded finger-spinner they called him, Chappell said. He came from Tamworth, started out his cricket life as a wicketkeeper and he fiddled around flicking these balls … I think he started with a table tennis ball, and developed into a very fine finger spinner.I spoke to him the other day, hed come to grips with his situation and his last words were to me, Dont fret, mate, Im in good shape.A late starter to first-class cricket at 27, Gleeson had honed his method for years prior, experimenting with various grips in backyard cricket ater being partly inspired by fellow mystery spinner Iverson. The first time I saw it was a photograph in a 1951 Sporting Life magazine, he said of Iversons grip in a 2008 interview. I would bowl with the same grip with a tennis ball in backyard cricket, with a jacaranda tree as the wicket. It was quite natural for me to bowl a legspinner even if it looked like an offspinner - it was basically a reverse wrongun: looks like an offspinner but is a legspinner.Gleeson worked his way into the New South Wales state sside and ultimately the Australian Test team after impressing Richie Benaud in a net session in the summer of 1966-67.dddddddddddd He always remained somewhat miffed by the hype that surrounded his bowling style, which was a forerunner to other more lateral methods of spinning the ball that would follow in later years around the cricket world. His path to the Test side was to be smoothed by another net session, in Adelaide where he bowled to the then selection chairman Sir Donald Bradman.He stood there, in his suit, at the batting crease, without a bat. I ran up and bowled. To get the ball to turn a fair bit I had to bowl a lot slower than I normally did, Gleeson said. I bowled him that ball [an off break] and he tried to let it hit the net, but it went the other way, flew up, and hit him on the hip. His eyes lit up and he just picked the ball up and threw it back to me. Next ball, I bowled him the wrongun and then he wasnt quite sure which way to go as he wasnt reading from the hand.James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said: John captured the imagination of cricket fans everywhere as he bamboozled batsmen with his odd bowling grip, borrowed from another mystery Australian spinner, Jack Iverson.We were deeply saddened to hear of Johns passing and are truly appreciative of his contribution to the game, which, beyond his distinguished playing career, included time as an administrator with World Series Cricket. As a cricketer, he will be remembered as someone who played for his country at the highest level and, with his unique skills, had the ability to regularly dumbfound the best batsmen in any team. ' ' '
